Alienware is no stranger to outlandish PC case designs and something subtle is not their ball game. Or is it? The Dell-owned brand has this time around broken notions with a new mid-tower desktop PC chassis that looks nothing like an Alienware would, if the information was not revealed to a neutral geek.
With some criticism for the Aurora R15 desktop PC regarding the cooling capabilities, Alienware has released the Aurora R16 PC focusing on this loophole. What’s surprising is the quaint look that is there for a purpose, and it grows on you the more you work on it. Gone is the very alienesque case that now gives way to a more traditional PC aesthetic which die-hard Alienware proponents might find hard to gobble down.
Pros:
- Compact form factor that weighs less
- Ample ports on the front for power users
- Aggressive pricing to take on the competition
Cons:
- Conservative chassis design
- Number of fans could fall short while high-end gaming
- Proprietary motherboard and server-style power unit
Designer: Alienware
There’s a refreshing design language dubbed “Legend 3” with a squarish shape and an interesting approach to improving the overall acoustics and thermals. The final chassis design thus has 20 percent lesser noise, 10 percent lower CPU and 6 percent reduced GPU temperatures. The beefy form factor is shaved off to reduce the overall volume by 40 percent without sacrificing the internal volume (25.2 liters) which is the same as the predecessor. The ultimate goal is of not being, “impeded by plastics” for optimized airflow.
The Aurora R16 measures just 16.5 inches tall compared to the 20 inches of the R15. Also, the single glowing LED Stadium light loop is a toned-down version of their previous builds. Although the swanky curves are gone, Alienware has retained the signature see-through plastic panel. On the brighter side, there’s much better cable management, and Alienware claims to have added large airflow vents on both front sides and top. This is assisted by the single 120mm intake behind. To keep things running smoothly with intense graphics processing, there’s the option of adding a 240mm liquid cooling radiator paired with 120mm fans on top.
Alienware Aurora R16 desktop is available in a standard version loaded with Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E, a 500W 80+ Platinum power supply and 12-phase voltage regulation, two memory card slots and two M.2 SSD slots for up to 64GB of DDR5-5600 RAM and up to 8TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage. As an option, you can also go for a 3.5mm spinning hard drive and an optional 1000W 80+ Platinum power supply. The price of the variant with 13th Gen Intel Core i7 and GeForce RTX 4070 GPU is going to be $1,750. This is going to be cheaper than the $2,200 R15 for the same configuration, so a better deal in every aspect for power users.
